Defensive linemen Habakkuk Baldonado, Calijah Kancey represent Pitt on All-ACC preseason team
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Indicative of the anticipated strength Pitt will employ in the trenches this season, defensive end Habakkuk Baldonado and defensive tackle Calijah Kancey were named to the 2022 All-ACC preseason team
Baldonado, a senior from Rome, Italy, and Kancey, a junior from Miami, were part of Pitt’s pass rush last season that led the ACC with 54 sacks. Baldonado recorded nine and Kancey seven.
Eight other linemen who contributed to the sack total — Deslin Alexandre, John Morgan, David Green, Tyler Bentley, Dayon Hayes, Devin Danielson, Bam Brima and Chris Maloney — return this season.
Alexandre, who was an honorable mention All-ACC pick after last season, said those numbers no longer matter.
“We never look back on what we did last year,” he said at the ACC Football Kickoff last week in Charlotte, N.C. “We really just want to keep setting the bar higher and higher and never just (sit) there and (feel) happy with what we did. We always want more.”
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• Preseason prognosticators pick Pitt to finish 2nd in ACC Coastal
Kancey and seven seniors — Baldonado, Alexandre, Morgan, Danielson, Bentley, Maloney and Green — are expected to lead that quest this season.
At 6-foot-5, 260 pounds, Baldonado started all 14 games last season and had 111⁄2 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and fumble recovery on the way to earning second-team All-ACC honors. He tied a career high with seven tackles and added a sack in the ACC Championship Game victory against Wake Forest.
Kancey, a third-team All-American and first-team All-ACC, used his 6-foot, 280-pound frame to lead the Panthers with 13 TFLs. He recorded a TFL in each of the final eight games of the season.
There were 20 Pitt players who were first-, second-, third-team or honorable mention selections on the 2021 All-ACC team, including first-teamers Kancey, Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison. The ACC named only one preseason team.
Clemson led all schools with six players named to the all-conference team, followed by N.C. State with five. N.C. State quarterback Devin Leary was named ACC preseason Player of the Year. Last season, Leary became the only quarterback in ACC history with 35 touchdown passes and five interceptions.